Greg Amos/Staff Writer
The impending water metering program in the Town of Gibsons is coming under fire from a little-known taxpayer advocacy group.
Heather Knight, director of "a loose group of concerned citizens" called the Ratepayers of Gibsons, distributed flyers by mail to all 4,200 residents in Gibsons last week, outlining her arguments that water meters will punish families and discourage homeowners from renting out secondary suites.
"We are water rich, and we need to look at solutions to our own situation," she said. "I don't think people are comfortable with the stance the local government has been taking, calling people water pigs."
In an email to Coast Reporter, Knight questioned why the Town is "using a conservation solution you'd use in the Sonoran desert." Knight, who owns property in the Town, said water meters "will make us rethink our ownership of rental properties" in Gibsons.
The town's $1.4-million cross connection control valve and water metering program is set to kick off in September, when water meters will be installed in each home in the town, while businesses, industries and institutions will be required to install the meters at their own expense. A provincial infrastructure grant will cover $460,000 of the project, while the town is borrowing a separate $1.4 million to cover parts of this and other infrastructure projects.
Borrowing that sum is conditional on an alternative approval process that will prevent the town from taking out the loan if it receives written objections from more than 10 per cent of the town's taxpayers by Sept. 8.
Mayor Barry Janyk noted the town has seen a dramatic change in water consumption patterns over the past five years, in part due to new homes and increased population. In July, a record daily consumption of nearly 160,000 cubic metres was established, smashing the 140,000 cubic metre benchmark established last August. The total consumption last year, 10 million cubic metres, pales in comparison to the 22 million cubic metres already consumed in the town this year.
"People are not getting the message that we need to be more mindful of the water we consume," he said. "The fact is, we have to get usage down. Climate change will mean hotter, drier, longer summers, which will have a devastating effect on our aquifer if we don't get a handle on conservation."
"People have the ability to regulate their water bills through consumption," he added. While Janyk acknowledged larger households would need to use more water than other residents, he dismissed Knight's suggestion that water meters unfairly target families.
"When you have a family, you have to understand that there are increased costs involved," he said.
For the first year under the meter system, annual water rates will increase to $365 or $370 per household, in order to help cover the debt incurred, said Gibsons chief administrative officer Paul Gipps. That rate is slightly below water rates now charged by the SCRD. Over the next year, the unit rate per cubic metre of water consumed will be adjusted so the median cost per household becomes the same as what homeowners now pay.
Consultants have found 35 to 60 per cent of the town's water is unaccounted for, and Gipps noted water metering would allow the town to pinpoint where the leaks are within the system. "If we can account for even 10 to 15 per cent of that, it will save us a huge amount of money," he said. Gipps noted metering would not be a cash cow for the town, "because it's a utility, it's a self-liquidating fund, and all revenues must be used in the water system," he said.
About $1.1 million of the project's cost will go toward installing cross-connection control valves, which prevent backflow of potentially contaminated water into the system, thereby allowing the town to continue to meet provincial drinking water standards without adding chlorine.
The town receives about 75 per cent of its water from three wells sunk into Lower Gibsons' confined aquifer.
